Revoluble mote board



. 0 1 72 \WLW f i J 24%;. M v 2 Filed July 23, 1938 Patented Jan. .23, 1940 UNITED STATES REVOLUBLE MOTE BOARD John A. Streun, Sherman, Tex., assignor to Hardwicke-Etter' Company, Sherman, Tex., a corporation of Texas Application July 23, 1938, Serial No. 220,978

12 Claims.

The present invention relates to cotton gins and more particularly to a revoluble mote board for top moting gins in which means are provided for preventing the motes from accumulating on parts of the gin which would interfere with maximum moting and the efiicient cleaning of the cotton.

At present, in many sections, clean cotton is harvested by what is known as stripping the bolls in their opened condition so that the picker gathers the green cracked bolls as well as the green uncracked bolls. In cleaning this raw cotton, the uncracked bolls are broken open and the green locks are scattered throughout the, cotton and fed to the gin ina damp condition with the result that it is much harderto gin this cotton than dry cotton or even rain soaked cotton. This is due to the fact that the green locks have a gluey-like moisture surface or coating which causes the locks to stick to a mote board or other .parts of the gin with which they come in contact. In ginning the greenboll cotton, the locks are thrown from the rapidly moving saws by centrifugal force and while some of the locks clear the mote board, a certain portion of them impinge on the mote board and stick thereto. The disadvantage of using a brush sweep to remove this green cotton is "at once apparent, since the sweep will serveto plaster or press the sticky cotton tightly onto the mote board and will form an adhesive surface which collects dry lint, that builds up on thetmote board'and forms strings which hang down over the'head of the air blast nozzle adjacent thesaws. These strings materially interfere with thewith'drawal of the lint from the saws, since ultimately the accumulated cotton is thrown either intothe lint duct by the saws or is caught by the gin and huller ribs and returned to the rollbox. As" the moting is done by-centrifugal force and since the motes are composed of premature seed that started but failed to form into seed, it will be seen that if the motes are left inthelint cotton, the value of the lint is greatly decreased. In other words, the value of the lint depends upon removing as much of the motes as possible from the cotton.

Accordingly, a primaryfeature of the present inventionis to provide simple, effi'cientand economical means in the form of a revoluble mote board so positioned relative to theair blast nozzle of the gin as to prevent the motes from accumulating on the mote board or from being conducted with the lint into the lint duct or being returned by the saws to the roll box.

p, A further object consists in mounting a revoluble mote board in the mote chamber above the air blast nozzle of top moting gins, for conducting any of the motes which impinge on the mote board into the moting chamber and for preventing the motes from accumulating on the head of 5 the nozzle. Additionally, means are provided for removing any of the motes which may adhere to the smooth surface of the mote board.

Another object is to provide revoluble means for insuring thorough moting and for preventing l0 sticky, stringy, wet'cotton from accumulating on parts of the gin which would seriously impair the eflicient operation of the gin, and inwhich the use of air current-is dispensed with for removing cotton from the air blast nozzle'or from the mote board. I

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying claims and drawing.

Referring to the drawing in which is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure l is a vertical sectional View of a portion of a cotton gin having my invention associated therewith, I g

Figure 2 is an enlarged detailed view of a portion of the gin shown in Figure l, and

Figure 3 is a sectional detailed plan view on a small scale, of parts of the gin shown in Figure 1 v Referring to the drawing in which like numerals designate like parts in the several views, Ill indicates the housing of a top moting gin, to which is pivotally connected as at l I, a gin breast l2. Suitably connected to the gin breast, are the '35 gin ribs I3 and the huller ribs Hi, through which normally extend the spaced gin saws l5 carried by the cylinder H5. The cylinder 16 is fastened to a drive shaft 11 revolubly mounted in the gin. A picker rolll8 positioned in the huller chamber i9 feeds the raw cotton to the saws during the operation of the gin.

An air blast conduit2ll communicatesthrough a passage 2| with a nozzle 22 which extends the width of the gin, so as to direct a strong current of air downwardly across the teeth of the saws to .doif the lint clinging thereto, and which also blows the lint from the saws into the lint duct 23 from where the same is carried to a condenser or to any other suitable point of discharge.

The mote chamber 24 has extending transversely th'erethrough, a revoluble shaft 25 which is journalled in'the bearing plates 25 secured to the sides of the gin inany suitable manner, such as by the bolts 21. One-end of the shaft projects beyond the side of the gin and carries a sprocket 28 connected to a sprocket 29 on the saw cylinder shaft E? by an endless chain 30 (Fig. 3). The opposite end of the shaft i'l may be connected to any suitable driving mechanism (not shown). Pivotally mounted on the shaft 25 are the spaced supporting arms 3i to which are journalled the ends of the revoluble mote board or smooth steel roller 32 which is positioned above the nozzle head 33 and adjacent the teeth of the saws i5 so as to be driven at a high speed, i. e., about 700 revolutions per minute. The roller 32 is sufficiently small as to occupy very little space and does not materially interfere with the moting space in the chamber 24.

A sprocket 3:1 on the roller 32 may be connected by an endless chain 35 to a sprocket 36 on the shaft 25 so that upon the rotation of the gin saws t5, the roller is simultaneously actuated through the shaft 25 to rotate in the same direction as the saws. Manifestly, any other suitable driving mechanism may be employed for operatively connecting the roller 32 to the saw shaft I? or to other driving mechanism associated either with a gin or a battery of gins.

The nozzle head 33 preferably has mounted thereon, a fixed member or shield 31 provided with a pair of upwardly extending spaced arms or ribs and 38 coextensive in length with the roller and arranged to engage the periphery thereof to constitute a stripper bar for removing any substances that may adhere to the roller. The bearing plates may have projections 39 (Fig. 1) extending below the arms 3! and towards the saws, which are provided with stop screws 4i": to maintain the mote board or roller 32 in adjusted position relative to the stripper bar 3?. A lip ii hinged as at to the lint duct is connected to an operating member or link .3 for controlling the width of the mouth of the lint duct. While the stripper bar has been shown provided with a pair of ribs 38 and 38, it will be manifest that this bar may be formed with only one of these ribs for the purpose of removing any material that may adhere to the roller 32.

The bar or scraper adjacent the teeth of the saws 25 also constitutes a pilot or guide to conduct upwardly any of the motes dislodged from the roller 32 by the scraper 38, so that these motes will be carried by the roller 32 towards the mote chamber 24 and will not be caught by the saws and mixed with the lint fed downwardly into the duct 23. It will be seen that if the scraper 38' were omitted, the loose material escaping past the scraper 33 would be conducted into the lint duct By providing the scraper 38, this loose material will not only be guided upwardly, but will be blown against the roller 32 by the wind generated by the centrifugal force of thesaws i5 and thrown by the roller into the mote chamber 2 Normally, the stop screw it is adjusted so that the roller 32 bears lightly against the scrapers 3B and 33. Since the arms 5! which carry the roller 32! are pivotally supported by the shaft 25, the roller is arranged. to yieldably engage the scrapers and may be raised relative thereto during the operation of the machine. In other words, if the stripper bar 3'! is displaced or the scrapers misadjusted to allow stringy material to wind up on the roller, the heating connection of the latter with the shaft 25 permits the roller to be moved upwardly relative to the scrapers, with the result that the foreign matter adhering to the roller will cause the roller to bear down more heavily against the scrapers. This engagement of the scrapers soon removes the material from the roller so that the arms 3! are returned to engage the screw 40 and the clean roller 32 is again in its proper or normal position relative to the scraper and the saws, and is effected without interfering with the continuous operation of the gin.

In operation, the raw green cotton is fed from the huller chamber l9 by the spike or picker roller 18 to the saws which project through the huller and ginning ribs. The saws pick up the cotton and draw the same through the ribs into the roll box 44. The saws are suitably spaced to form passages for the raw cotton but are sufficiently close to one another to strip the burrs and trash so as to discharge the same into the bottom of the chamber 19. As the saws rotate counter-clockwise or in the direction of the arrow as shown in Figure 2, they cause the cotton to turn in an opposite direction. The cotton is fed into the roll box 44 in a steady stream and to the proper density to insure good ginning. The saw teeth strip the lint from the seeds at the point 5 on the ribs M (Fig. l) and then carry the lint to the nozzle 22 where the air pressure and blast remove the lint from the saws and blow it into the lint duct 23 from where the lint is conducted to a condenser or to a press.

In ginning dry cotton, there is no tendency for the motes to adhere to the mote board. However, in cleaning the green raw cotton in which the bolls are broken open, difiiculty has been encountered in removing the motes due to the fact that the saws throw the sticky, stringy, wet cotton over the edge of the mote board and if the mote board is cleaned by a sweep, the sticky green fibers are plastered down on the mote board and form a surface to which dry lint will adhere and also strings that hang down over the blast nozzle, thus materially reducing the efliciency of the gin. By reason of providing the roller 32 which constitutes a revoluble mote board and which is driven to rotate in the same direction as the saws l5, it will be seen that dry motes, and wet motes which are not sufliciently sticky or gummy as to adhere to the roller 32, will upon impinging thereon be thrown or boosted over the roller and drawn into the mote chamber 24-, so as to be removed therefrom by the conveyor 46. In other words, due to the smooth roller 32 retating at a very high speed. the motes will not pile up on the roller as they formerly did with fixed or adjustable mote boards. Should any of the green sticky locks strike the roller 32, there is nothing to plaster the sticky substance down on the roller. Moreover, should any of this substance adhere to the roller, it will be removed therefrom by the arms 38 and 38' of the stripper bar 31 which are so positioned as to barely clear the roller and which will immediately remove any foreign substance adhered thereto. The screws 48 which engage the underside of the swinging arms 3!. permit the roller 32 to be adjusted relative to the stripper bar depending upon the particular kind or grade of cotton being ginned. The word mote as used in the specification and claims includes the immature seed with short fibers, particles of leaf trash and hull trash, seed fragments, tangled fibers, and other 70 foreign matter.

The revoluble smooth roller or mote board 32 is positioned directly above or over the nozzle head 33 adjacent the teeth of the saws, and is of such a size as not to interfere with the rooting II "'10 for maintaining the moting point clean and free 'from-.obstructi0ns during the ginning operation and for insuring maximum moting by preventing the motes from adhering either to the mote board or' to the air blast nozzle. Further, the use either of a revoluble brush associated with the air nozzle to remove motes that may athere thereto or the use of air current for removin the motes from the head of the nozzle is dispensed with, so that no counteracting air curv rents are developed which would impair or otherwise interfere with the discharge of the motes into the mote chamber. Thus, positive means are provided for precluding the sticky motes-or waste from being drawn into the lint duct 23 25 and mixing with the ginned cotton.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention shown and described, is merely illustrative of a preferred embodiment and that such changes as fall within the purview of one skilled in the. art, may be made without departing from .the'spirit of the invention and the scope or the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a

a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing. the lint therefrom, a smooth roller disposed immediately above 1 the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, 40 said roller constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging motes that impinge thereon into said chamber, means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the saws so that motes which impinge on the mote board are thrown into the chamber and prevented from accumulating on the mote board, and means arranged to contact with the roller to remove material adhering thereto.

2. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, means for rotating the saws, a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a smooth roller immediately above the nozzle, said roller constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging motes that impinge thereon into the chamber and for preventing the accumulation of the motes on the mote board and the nozzle, means yieldably arranged to contact with the roller to remove material adhering thereto and means connecting the roller to the drive means for the saws for rotating the roller and the saws in the same direction.

3. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a U5 chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged.

from the saws, an air blast nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a pair of spaced swinging arms mounted in said chamber, a smooth roller journalled on said arms 2c and positioned over the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, said roller constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging motes impinged thereon into said chamber, and means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the 75 saws.

' 4. In an air blast top mot'ing gin, gin saws, a 'chaniberfor receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a smooth roller, means yieldably support- :1 ing the roller above the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, said roller constituting a rev- .olubl-e mote board for discharging the motes impinged thereon into. said chamber; and means for rotating the roller in a direction away from -1 the saws so that any motes accumulated thereon are discharged into the chamber.

5. In an air blast top moting gin, ginsaws, a

v chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle adjacent the 5. teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a pair of spaced swinging arms mounted in said chamber, a relatively small smooth roller journalled on said arms and'positioned over the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, so asig to avoid interference with the moting, said roller constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging the motes impinged thereon into-said chamber, means for rotating-the rolle'r in the same direction as the saws and means for adjustingij i the roller relative to said nozzle.

In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a chamber for receiving -the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle ad jacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a pair of spaced swinging arms mountedin said chamber, a smooth roller journalled on said arms and positioned over the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, said roller constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging motes impinged thereon into said chamber, means for rotating the roller in'the same direction as the saws, and means mounted on the nozzle and engaging the periphery of the roller for removing material that adheres to the roller 40 and for discharging the same into said chamber.

'7. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a pair of spaced swinging arms mounted in said chamber, a smooth roller journalled on said arms and positioned over the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, said roller constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging motes imso pinged thereon into said chamber, means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the saws, means for adjusting the roller relative to said nozzle, and means mounted on the nozzle and engaging the periphery of the roller for reto moving material that adheres to the roller and for discharging the same into said chamber..

8. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle adto jacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a smooth roller immediately above the nozzle and. adjacent the teeth of the saws, said roller constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging motes that impinge thereon into said chamber, a pair of spaced fixed scrapers positioned below the roller and arranged to contact therewith to remove material adhering thereto, and means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the saws so that '10 motes which impinge on the 'mote board are thrown into the chamber.

9. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle ad- 76 nozzle, and means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the saws so that motes which impinge on the mote board are thrown into the chamber.

10. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an air blast nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a smooth roller immediately above the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, a support for the roller, means for movably connecting the roller to said support, a pair of spaced .fixed scrapers positioned below the roller and arranged to contact therewith, and means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the saws so that motes which impinge on the mote board are thrown into the chamber, said roller normally contacting with the scrapers and arranged to move relative thereto to permit material adhering to the roller to be moved upwardly and away from said nozzle.

11. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, air blast directing means including an imperforate nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a roller immediately above the nozzle and adjacent the teeth of the saws, said roller having a smooth uninterrupted surface and constituting a revoluble mote board for discharging motes that impinge thereon into said chamber, means yieldably supporting the roller to permit the same to be moved relative to the saws and nozzle, and means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the saws so that motes which impinge on the mote board are thrown upwardly into the chamber and prevented from accumulating on the mote board, said imperforate nozzle providing means for insuring the roller being free from air currents blowing through the nozzle.

12. In an air blast top moting gin, gin saws, a chamber for receiving the mote as it is discharged from the saws, an imperforate air blast nozzle adjacent the teeth of the saws for removing the lint therefrom, a roller above the nozzle and in proximity to the teeth of the saws, said roller having a smooth mote-receiving outer surface and constituting a revoluble smooth-surfaced mote board which receives and discharges motes that impinge thereon into said chamber,

the smooth surface of said roller preventing motes and stringy material from adhering and winding thereon, and means for rotating the roller in the same direction as the saws, so that motes that impinge on the mote board are.

thrown outwardly away from said roller into the chamber and are prevented from adhering to and accumulating on the mote board.

JOHN A. STREUN. 

